1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for registering members in a member service provided on a network. In particular, it relates to a system which enables real time registration.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, it has become popular to set up websites for members, which are called “communities” or the like, on networks such as the Internet. A “community” in the present specification is not limited to a specific type of service website such as a SNS (Social Network Service), a blog or the like, it represents all service websites for members. There is a variety of such communities; some allow people who have not registered to use some of their functions, and some restrict all of their functions to members.
Many communities use an invitation system, and only the people who have established the communities or people who have received an invitation from a member can register a member.
FIG. 11 shows an example of a member registration sequence for such a community.
An inviter logs in to the community and performs an operation to send an invitation message to the electronic mail address of an invitee using an invitation function provided in the community site. When this operation is performed, the invitation message is transmitted to the electronic mail address of the invitee from the community service server. The invitee refers to the invitation message, accesses a member registration URL described therein, and goes through the member registration procedure. After the member registration procedure is completed, the invitee can use the community freely as a member who has completed registration.
A technique associated with member registration in a community using such a procedure is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2006-330798 (referred to hereunder as Patent Document 1).
In the member registration sequence, the inviter sends an invitation message to the electronic mail address of the invitee using a function of the community website. Therefore, the invitee needs to give his/her electronic mail address to the inviter using some method.
However, there is a case in which an invitee has psychological resistance to giving his/her electronic mail address to someone else, which can be a cause of hesitation in joining the community.
If the invitee uses a free mail service, such psychological resistance is reduced. However, in the case where a free mail service is used, there are the following problems.
The abovementioned member registration sequence also includes a process in which the invitee accesses a member registration URL with reference to the electronic mail invitation massage. Some free mail services cannot be used from a portable terminal, and even some of those that can be used from a portable terminal require the registration procedure to be done in advance, so they cannot be used in the case where there has been no existing registration. Therefore, in the case where an invitation message is sent to a free mail service address, if the invitee is not in an environment where he/she can operate his/her computer terminal, there is a possibility that registration in the community cannot be completed immediately.
Furthermore, a party to whom an invitation message is sent is normally an acquaintance. Therefore, it is not unusual that at the point of time that the inviter sends the invitation message to the invitee, the parties have already agreed with each other on the invitee's joining the community. In such a case, in spite of the mutual agreement between the inviter and the invitee, similar operations (operation of sending an invitation message, operation of accessing the member registration URL) must be performed on the network, which doubles the effort.
In the method disclosed in Patent Document 1 as described above, there are problems that registration in a community cannot be completed immediately, and redundant operations are forced on an inviter and invitee.